Squash players question role of coaches in squad
The Asian Gamesbound Indian squash players have questioned the presence of Cyrus Poncha and Bhuvneshwari Kumari as coaches in the contingent, saying they can only play the role of administrators in the continental mega event in Indonesia.
The eight players picked for the Asian Games have been training without a full-time coach and most of them don’t train regularly with Kumari and Poncha, who has been a longtime national coach. Sixteen-time national champion Kumari’s credentials as a player cannot be questioned but she is not involved in the functioning of the national team and only travels with the team during multi-sporting events like the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
Poncha may be a coach on paper but he is more effective as a man manager. It is also rare for a coach to be a top tournament administrator but not for Poncha, who was the competition director of the World Junior Championships held in Chennai last month.
But more than a team manager, the players need technical and tactical advice during close games, something former coach Achraf Karargui could have provided but the Egyptian was fed up with the Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) and resigned before the Commonwealth Games in April. “For technical inputs during matches, we rely more on each other,” a player said on condition of anonymity.
However, the presence of physio Dimple Mathivanan is very much welcome by the players. The Sports Ministry has cleared the entire squash contingent on cost to government.
“Since we don’t have a fulltime coach, it doesn’t leave us with much choice. Their role at the Games is more of an administrator than of a coach. Dealing with off the court issues and communication with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) officials,” said another player.
“Since there are no world class coaches available in India, who do you replace them (Poncha and Kumari) with,” the player added.
While Poncha is based in Chennai, the home of the Indian Squash Academy, Kumari runs her own academy in New Delhi. They both went to Asian Games and Commonwealth Games in 2014 and were also part of the contingent in Gold Coast CWG earlier this year.
Officials at SRFI were unavailable for a comment on the players’ concerns.
NEW DELHI: